Duality
by Miss Slaughter
Summary: A short story. Lamia twins, darling debutants of the Night World. One twin is torn between prejudice and loyalty to her sister.
1. Prologue

**Duality**

**A Tale of the Night World**

**Prologue:**

Among the Lamia, daughters must be seen and not heard. This wasn't why Violet bit her tongue when all was said and done but it was as good an excuse as any.

Alone in the cold ante room, quiet like a mausoleum, the quiet of the dead and she did not breath nor speak to disturb the grim peace of the place.

Mascara trails scarred her cheeks, her lipstick smeared around the gash of her mouth, once impeccably style hair now mussed and wild. She lay deceptively calm with her ear pressed to the cool ground.

Her hands felt numb, her skin was broken and she had been bleeding, the wounds were not healing from the hours of pounding on a solid oak door. The very same door that now stood open letting a slim crack of candlelight flicker across her face.

_It's too late._

It took her a long time to gather the courage to gather herself up. Red heels and scarlet dress bunched in her bleeding hands. She walked unsteadily out of the room, her footfalls silent.

Once outside she found herself trampling on confetti shaped like flowers and moons. Desecrated wedding decorations. _Far too late._

The hall sconces were lit throwing everything in shadow, the bridal bouquet had been arranged on a table as if it were a shrine. Irises and white roses. She put the bunch to her face to sniff, smearing her cracked makeup on the virgin petals. _ No, it was too late._

She threw the flowers to the ground and relished in the _crunch_ as she stamped on the bulbs. She left the barren house and knew she could never go back. It was simply too late.


	2. Chapter One

**Duality**

**Chapter One:**

One Year Earlier

The Bludworth clan held vast properties in --, none so more important than Parkland Hall: a grand estate in an English tradition, that had been built at the behest of Lord Bryce Bludworth, the head of the Bludworth Clan and their representative on the Joint Council, the ruling authority of the Night World.

Bryce Bludworth had immigrated from their rural holdings in England to America in the 1920s to make a name for himself among the new stomping ground of the fashionable and powerful figures of the Night. And he had done just that.

Now being the Third Family among the Lamia, related to the ruling Redfern clan by blood, they were secured as a ruling family in the Night. As such it was important for the Bludworth's to set an example for the rest.

Violet brushed hair from her face to stare into her eyes without obstruction. Though she had no use for vanity. Violet had ever been considered the plain daughter.

She appeared like a modern sophisticate, it was part of her breeding. Perfectly sculpted features meant for seduction and worship, provided by two uncannily handsome parents. But the problem was Violet Bludworth was not looking at her reflection, she was staring into the callous eyes of her identical twin sister.

If Violet was plain then Rose was considered wild. She was beautiful and unrelenting. She shone wherever she went, eclipsing all others in her pursuit for affection and attention. Rose was a wild creature.

"Oh don't look at me like that." Rose sighed.

Violet had pointed out the white powder clinging to the inside of her nostril. Rose wiped it away with the back of her hand. Mysteries. The hottest and most dangerous drug of the Night.

"Get dressed." Rose said turning her back on her sister. As if her imperial say so would somehow make Violet forget. But then there was nothing Violet could do.

Violet retreated to her own room. The rooms in Parkland were large, each room and its own en suit bathroom and dais which lead to a queen sized bed. Where Rose's bedroom was lush, feminine and tastefully decorated Violet's room was draped in swathes of black fabric and bright, garish posters were pinned to her walls.

Violet pulled a little boring black dress against her frame. She felt like a fraud. She felt as if she were wearing her sister's skin.

"Violet?" Rose's voice chirped from the other side of the door.

"I'm not going." Came her petulant reply.

"Violet?"

She squared her shoulders and faced her reflection. "I'm not going."

Rose sashayed into the room, her nose wrinkling at the sight of the Never Mind the Bollocks poster.

"Don't be ridiculous. You have to go, you have no choice."

She pushed past Violet and went to her wardrobe, a mere shadow of her own. She pulled out a blood red ball gown.

"Put this on, fix your hair and I'll meet you in the car."

Violet obeyed. There was little point resisting Rose, she always got what she wanted in the end. She was a force of nature.

Before she left, as she always did, she went to check on their mother. Coral Bludworth nee Redfern was collapsed across her bed, dead drunk and melancholy. It was a familiar and saddening sight despite Coral having been like this for as long as Violet could remember.

Violet pulled the bed clothes over her mother's body, as she gurgled softly in her sleep.

She turned to tip toe out.

"Wait." Her mother's voice rang clear. "Go to the second draw on the left." One hand emerged from the blankets to motion imperiously toward the mahogany bureau - despite it not being thought smart for a vampire to own wooden furniture.

She did as she was bid and Violet plucked a hair pin with an ornate ivory iris. It was beautiful and very delicate. Violet had only seen it once worn by her mother.

"Wear it."

She pushed it into her black hair. She felt like a 1940s star.

"Now get out."

She closed the door softly behind her.

The fire engine red Lamborghini was waiting in front of the house for her, their cousin Ash Redfern was seated in the driver's chair. Rose was engaged in an animated conversation, her fingers splayed intimately on his thigh.

Violet knocked lightly on the window.

"Where the hell have you been?" Rose fumed. Eyes flicking to her hair pin and then back to Ash.

Violet noted there was no room. "Hi, Ash."

He nodded at her but didn't open his mouth to greet her. He shifted in his chair looking uncomfortable.

"I'll take the Porsche." She said softly.

Rose's eyes were cruel. "We'll see you there."

Violet got to the car slowly, dragging her feet. She drove in silence; she had the window rolled down to let the night air seep in. The distant stench of the iron city wafted to her nostrils. Cigarette smoke and perfume.

She pulled up to the Grand Hall. It was once a expansive country estate but some of it had been torn down and a development project abandoned. It was often used for Night gatherings and bacchanals. Tonight was a celebration, all the eligible Lamia gathered to drink and dance and forge trysts and alliances.

She sat in the car, breathing deep to try and calm the awful feeling in her guts.

She saw another sleek sports car pull up nearby, she glanced over to see Calder Marwood-Thorn. He started to approach. A tall vampire, cold and handsome as their kind was wont to be but his eyes were emerald green, twin jewels cutting swathes through the night.

"You look gorgeous, Rose." He opened the door for her. She didn't move. He leant forward and sniffed the air and drew back sharply as if repulsed. "Oh, Violet, it's you."

"Rose's already inside." She said softly as she climbed out of the car. Her cheeks warmed at the compliment despite herself.

He turned his back on her and strode into the hall. Violet hated Calder Marwood-Thorn with a passion. They had grown up together, all three of them and he had always treated Violet like a specimen.

She took her time approaching the building. This was everything she hated about Night World society. The lavish parties, expensive and lush decor masking the excuse for the meat market. She wasn't ready to be sold into slavery, diamond ring or not.

She slipped into the room, beautiful silk gold and black drapes. Tables full of glasses sparkling with blood red wine lined with human blood.

There was a stage. The curtains drawn concealing some activity.

There was beautiful lighting tonight, both spectacular and soft and romantic.

"Drink?"

She turned to find Ash proffering her a glass.

"No, thank you." She didn't like to drink cool blood and hated the taste of sour wine. Together it was a sickly cocktail that took days to remove itself from your tongue.

"Just hold it, you can at least pretend to have a good time."

She took the glass and watched the light touch the glass, she could see the congealed blood and felt nauseous.

"How have you been? You've been away a long time and I hear your sisters have settled on the main land."

Ash smiled but his lips were tight, it was an uncomfortable expression. "They've settled very well."

"Strange not to see them here."

"They're not ready for this kind of thing yet."

She nodded. She could understand how tiresome Lamia socialising could be, a smile was never just a smile, a touch never just an innocent touch. As Ash murmured in her ear her eyes were searching the crowd for her twin.

She found Rose tucked in the crook of Calder Marwood-Thorn's arm and she felt her heckles rise, her grip on the glass become a little tighter.

"They make a good looking couple." Ash said following her gaze.

"They deserve each other." She hissed. Vain twits.

There was a commotion on stage, the vampire MC appeared. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming." He chatted for several minutes and Violet stood rigid and painfully self conscious anticipating her escapes. "I have an announcement to make."

The curtains drew back. Rose and Calder stood together centre stage.

"...an engagement."

Cheers went up through the crowd.

Violet felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her lungs. She blinked for several moments watching her sister's arms slither around Calder like serpents on a branch.

From the periphery of her vision she saw Ash move toward the stage to offer his congratulations. She stood alone, feeling fragile, as if a part had been ripped away. Her twin and the one Lamia she hated, she couldn't bear to think of it.

They had known Calder since they were young; they used to play when they were children in the forests of Parkland and the Marwood Estate. He had always hated Violet and cleaved to Rose with a sick kind of devotion. When he had come into their lives Rose had began to spend more and more time away from her twin.

Violet gulped down the blood wine and almost gagged on the bitter taste.

She dropped the glass to the ground, sickened by the spectacle and strode to the Porsche ignoring the glittering eyes that turned with intense curiosity.

"Where are you going?" Rose had chased her outside.

"You should have told me."

Rose folded arms in front of her chest. "Would it have made a difference?"

"Do mother and father know?"

Rose's smiled fell and the unspoken, 'no' hung in the air.

"I should never have come." Violet muttered and closed the car door and pealed out of the Grand Hall driveway heading for home. Rose's silhouette caught in her rear view mirror.

She walked into the house, furious.

She went to her room, her mother was standing in the hall staring at her. She looked dishevelled, still stinking drunk. "I knew it would look good on you, my darling Rose."

Violet froze, the rising fury gripped her. She tore the pin out of her hair and threw it at her mother. The ivory ricocheted off the wall and chipped. Coral let out a dismayed cry.

"It's Violet." She screamed. "My name is Violet."


	3. Chapter Two

**Duality**

**Chapter Two:**

Violet woke still tangled in the silk of her red dress, her face smeared with last night's makeup and the lingering taste of blood wine clinging to her pallet. Her tongue felt thick and useless in her mouth.

She stumbled to her bathroom, stripping the skin that stuck to her like snake skin. She had to grip the edge of her sink to keep from collapsing as the weight of last night assaulted her senses. The implication like thunder in her skull.

She emerged from her bathroom to find Rose leaning in her door, the red dress wringing between her hands. Nora , their aged maid hovered quietly behind. Rose threw the dress to the woman and closed the door behind her.

"Nice job, Violet." Rose threw herself across her sister's bed.

Violet couldn't look her sister in the eye. "Is she okay?"

"Oh, mother's locked in her room and she's not coming out."

Violet's shoulders sagged. "Did you call him?"

Rose laughed. "I'm not taking that bullet. Oh no, I'll leave it to you to talk to daddy dear, not that he'd care about the shrivelled old bat and her mood swings."

Violet shook with silent rage. She hated her sister's disregard for their mother, their mother who loved Rose best.

"Get some clothes on." Rose said her expression becoming cold. "I'm going out."

Rose was already walking out of the door and Violet strode after her. "When will you be back?"

Rose didn't respond but disappeared around a corner, the maid Nora a crouched figure hurrying behind her mistress.

Violet returned to her room, slamming her door shut. She tried to busy herself but there was nothing to do at Parkland, her purpose was to take care of her mother but she couldn't bring herself to face the task. Her mother's presence seemed to beat against the walls, her silent sobs ricocheted incessantly about her skull.

Violet grabbed her boots and jacket and headed out. She ignored the shuffle of the servants as she climbed into a car and peeled out of the estate without a glance behind her.

Hours later she stood at the doors of the Black Iris, --.

The squat little creature at the door looked her carefully up and down, nostrils flaring to assess whether she was of the Night. She stood patiently in the pungent dark alleyway waiting to pass through the grim little door to the subterranean fellowship taking place below.

"Apologies, my lady. Enjoy the show." The werewolf growled softly, making a small bow as she slipped inside.

Violet headed straight for the bar and ordered a row of shots.

She wanted to get drunk, she wanted to forget the trappings of her home. The phantom of her mother's wretched sobs scarred her psyche. She took the first bitter swig letting the mix of alcohol underlined with magic plummet to the bottom of her stomach.

Before long she was in the middle of a crowd of cold flesh and wild things, writhing, reaching for the spells weaved by the vampire on stage. As if she were raising offerings to the celestial gods, the small performer offered pain, anger, suffering and it was all channelled through a profound series of scream and whispers.

Violet's addled mind was transported, she was detaching herself from civility, memory, duty.

Hands slithered over her body. Strangers touched her intimately but she didn't care. She was beyond caring. She was at the mercy of the vampire's song, basking in the echoes of her ecstatic breath.

"Time to leave." Someone whispered, lips flicking by her earlobe.

She allowed herself to be lead out carried away from the circus of writhing flesh and bubblegum pink hair vampire chanting on stage.

The night air might help violet to clear her mind. She couldn't feel her feet connect with the ground and as soon as she was exposed to the tainted city air she doubled over and threw up. Pungent alcohol and bile washed the paving slabs and her companion rubbed small circles on her back.

"Whoa, girl, take it easy." He murmured in his lightly accented voice.

"What's your name?" She asked between gags.

"Emmanuel."

She stood, the ground was spinning and she was uncertain on her feet. "Emmanuel, I can't drive like this."

"I have a place we can go." He murmured.

She followed him blindly. She was beyond caring what would happen to her though she saw what he wanted and how many ways he wanted it. Emmanuel put an arm around her, he smelt wild and it was hot nestled beneath his damp armpit.

He led her though a maze of black streets and interconnected alleyways until they had to stop for her to gag.

They stopped behind a club, humans roamed around the entrance, she could hear the bass pumping through the very bricks, beating against her skull, stirring the contents in her stomach. When she straightened up, wiping vomit from her lip her nostrils flared and she picked up a familiar and sweet scent.

"No it's not that way." Emmanuel growled.

"Wait." She held up a hand to command his silence and followed her nose and that delicate scent.

Emmanuel was impatient, folding dark arms across his broad chest. "No way."

"Wait."

She walked around the club, wading through people, pushing them aside invoking their hatred, foul words that seemed to echo as she emerged into a slim, slimy alleyway. There was a persistent rustling, a kicking of garbage cans, grunts and moans of a couple having sex against the wall.

Violet blinked not once not twice but three times in rapid succession, not sure if the alcohol were not playing tricks on her. It was Rose pressed up against the bricks, a human bent over her, kissing her passionately.

Laughter erupted as Emmanuel rounded the corner.

The couple detached and dressed hastily before turning to face the intruders. Rose's eyes met Violet's and Rose's mouth fell open, made dumb by shock just as Violet grew deaf with it.

Violet's eyes went to the young man, desperately searching him up and down to find her first instinct was correct he was indeed human. Flushed, pink and unkempt.

"Violet." Rose whispered her name.

Violet grasped blindly for Emmanuel's arm and began to drag him away from the tableau. He was still laughing when they strode together down the street. "Hold on a minute." Emmanuel tried to slow her pace but Violet was beyond him now.

Her mind was racing into sobriety, she had known her sister slept around but with humans? The very thought made her head ache, her throat fill with bile.

"That chick looked a little like you." He mumbled.

"Emmanuel." She said sickly sweet and dangerous. "Shut up."

*

Still in her dirty clothes, her makeup smudged and hair hopelessly mussed, Violet crawled into bed early the next morning not quite remembering how she had made it home, crawled into the tomb of a mansion and beneath the sweaty sheets still tainted by the experience of yesterdays.

When she next opened her eyes the sun was bright in the sky, though it felt she had barely lay her head on the pillow.

Rose lay next to her, a shimmering vision in her silk night gown. "You won't tell." She whispered.

"I should." Violet's voice was raspy and unused.

"Please, Violet it was a mistake, a onetime thing. I'm under a lot of pressure." Her voice never raised above a whisper as she begged Violet in a way she had never done before.

"You're engaged."

"I know."

"To Calder Marwood-Thorn. What do you want me to do?"

"Keep it a secret."

Violet reached out and held her sister's cool, smooth hand, squeezed her fingers tight, saying yes without having to open her mind or her mouth.

"I have to go away for a while." Rose said. "To think things through."


	4. Chapter Three

**Duality**

**Chapter Three:**

Violet stared out of the window, taking in the vast landscape, the expanse of trees that covered the stretch of land like a rich verdant canopy. Thick sturdy trees that had histories of their own. There was a small brook somewhere in the thicket, she could catch the subtle currents of wildlife and the burn of the city beyond.

Violet searched the landscape meticulous, keeping constant watch, penitent vigil for the merest hint of Rose's return. Each morning Violet would wake and stand, a silhouette in the window. Each morning the horizon offered no sign of her sister.

The months had crawled agonizingly slow since Rose had left. Coral haunted the mansion, blood wine reddening her lips, her voice a phantom haunting the halls. A mad Mrs Rochester, forsaken in her attic.

Violet rarely slept, instead she often watched the twilight shift to daylight and wondered where her sister was.

It was on a typically day such as this when she saw the silver Jaguar race into the driveway like a thunderbolt. No one was home but Violet and her mother, Violet had retired the servants as there was no need to tend to Rose's will.

She descended the staircase slowly to open the door to Calder Marwood-Thorn.

Calder's shoulders were shaking with barely concealed rage as the door opened between them. He took in the sight of her smudged eyeliner and mussed hair and his lips pursed. His nostrils flared, testing the air, confirming which twin he was speaking to. She caught a whisper of his thoughts 'like mother like daughter'. Alcohol still clung to her lips, her throat, her insides, as she often drank herself into her vigils.

Anger infused her but she was careful not to exhibit this through her posture.

"Where's Rose?" He growled.

"Not in." Said blandly.

His eyes searched behind her as if she were lying out of spite. "Where is she?"

Violet shrugged. "Away." She didn't know where exactly and didn't care to know all she wanted was her sister back and peace to resume in the Bludworth household.

Calder tried to push his way into the slim crack of the door but Violet would not budge from the doorway.

"Move out of the way." He demanded from between clenched teeth.

But still she didn't budge.

He glared at her. "You don't understand a lick of what's going on around you, do you?"

Minutes later they were sitting in the dining room, Calder was stiffed back in the ornately carved chair, his palms lay flat on the lacquered table surface. Violet was half collapsed on the table, her ear pressed to the wood listening half heartedly to the vibration of his voice as he gave diatribe about family honour and the vampire nation. "Our names are prestigious, it's of the utmost importance that this wedding goes ahead without a single hiccough..."

She lifted her head suddenly. "What about love?"

He paused. Cocked his head, confused at the word. It rarely had any context among the Lamia nor the rich.

"What has love to do with it? It's a lie, a fabrication of humankind to bind them to one another." He seemed utterly convinced and his handsome face was cold, lip curled in disgust and she was repulsed by him.

"You're an arsehole."

He flashed fangs suddenly, springing out of his chair to wrap a bare hand around her throat.

"Do you even know my sister?" She said despite his grip. "Do you even care?"

"You're fucking dangerous." He hissed, his eyes glowing, fangs extended completely exposed as the vampire he was. A formidable creature who held her life in his hand, her bones grinding against his palm. With the thumb of his other hand he wiped some of the smeared eye shadow from her cheekbone.

Something passed between them, a memory rose like a phantom of another time in their past like this. They were playing amidst the oaks, Violet had been separate from the children that flitted through the forest like phantoms.

They had been playing all day, Violet remembered vividly how her hands had ached, how her knees had been scored by the bark and how those cuts had scarred her.

They were playing hide and seek, at least they had started to play earlier that evening but violet had given up hope that they had remembered to find her. It was often like Rose and Calder to go their own way and leave Violet wandering the estate. Violet had been hiding in the trees for hours, a dangerous place, a place neither Rose nor Calder were brave enough to hide.

When it became dismally clear she was alone she began to walk leisurely through the wood. She had a favourite place back then, a place beside the meagre brook, listening to the trickle of water over the rocks. Someone had dug the pit for the brook decades ago, the land had been dedicated to someone Violet couldn't recall the name of.

A willow had been planted especially in commemoration though it was never discussed in the house and her mother had only ever mentioned it in passing. Violet sat in its shade, staring up at the ceiling of trees, silver moonlight reflected in the murky water making the place glow.

Calder burst through the trees. He had been skinny then, tall and skinny and always covered in mud from some adventure or other. He saw her, but didn't speak instead he sat beside her in the dirt to listen to the water and bask in the glow of the moon.

Their fingers brushed and she drew her hand away, instead he grasped her hand firmly and leant over her. He used his fingertips to trace the top of her flowery shirt, pulling the collar down to expose the birthmark that sat above her breast.

He pressed his mouth to hers, swallowing her shallow breaths in a clumsy first kiss experience. "Violet!" Rose was calling from a distance. Calder jumped up wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as if to rid himself of the stain of her lips.

She barely had time to sit up to find he had disappeared. Violet lay back down, her heart thumping, her lips swollen, feeling exhilarated, the same sensation as a fresh feed but somehow more. He must have thought she was Rose.

Looking into his cold eyes, hot draughts of anger possessed her, he must be mistaking her for someone she was not. She jumped out of her chair and he relinquished his grip taking some steps away from her.

His stare was intense and made her feel awkward amongst other things.

"Get out." She demanded tremulously.

His lips fell open and she saw his teeth clench together before he spun around and left the house, slamming the door behind him. She could hear his tyres squeal as he sped out of the drive and she was glad he was gone.

*

Violet had barely stepped out of a steaming hot shower when she heard the timid knock on the front door. Her heart leapt. "Rose." She whispered and threw a robe over her to run to open the door.

Her heart was hammering even as she pulled open the door but instead of her sister found a young human boy standing and staring at her astonished. "You're not Rose." He stated.

It was the boy from the alleyway. She could barely conceal her shock. Violet glanced behind her shoulder as if Rose might have been standing there with wicked smile, she wasn't. She turned back to the human and felt two conflicting feelings: her stomach clench with Hunger and her skin crawled with the proximity of the human and the knowledge of what he had done with her sister.

"What are you doing here?" She asked softly and then burst into a tirade. "This is impossible, how did you know where she lived? No that doesn't matter now, you can't be here. You have to go."

"You look just like her." He whispered and then put his foot in the doorway to stop her slamming it in his face. "I need to see Rose, I need to talk to her to tell her that I-"

Fascinated. "Tell her what?"

"I love her."

Sentimental fool, she thought and put pressure behind the door which was slowly crushing his foot.

Her senses sharp, she could hear a distant engine it was a car approaching and it was approaching fast. It could have been anyone. If she was caught with a human it'd be an awfully nasty scandal for the family and they couldn't afford that now.

She dragged the human inside the house and marched him to her bedroom, he didn't bother to ask as if he understood the urgency. "Don't come out no matter what you hear, just hide and I'll be back."

"Wait, I need to know if Rose is here."

"Just wait, please. Stay real quiet."

She rushed down stairs and opened the door before anyone could knock. It was Calder again and he looked like shit. It could only have been a few hours since she had asked him to leave but he looked as if he'd lost months of sleep. "Don't think this means anything, Violet." He was saying as he strode toward the door.

He paused, stopped to take in the sight of her in her flimsy robe, hair still wet and blood pumping with all the excitement. She pulled the fabric tighter around herself and glared at him. He shook his head as if to clear it but his eyes never looked quite convincing now as he continued indignantly. "Don't think your sentimental clap trap is going to pervert the course of this alliance."

"Alliance?" She grew mad and forgot about everything for a moment stepping out of the house and poking him in the chest. " You can hardly have one of those when the girl you intend to marry has run a million miles to get away from you."

"That's not true."

He pushed his way past her and back into the house.

"Who do you think you are?" He paused again, nostrils flaring as he took in the breath of the house. "Why do I smell vermin?"

His senses were sharp. The Marwood-Thorns were renowned for their incredibly sharp senses. She grasped his arm, tugging on him to stop him from bounding up the stairs to investigate the smell. "I got hungry." She said.

He spun round to face her and put his face close to hers, the warmth of his mouth brought a new unsuspected fluttering to her stomach. "No blood." He spoke and stepped back.

"I haven't started just yet." She said indignantly. "You interrupted me."

He drifted toward the staircase. She gripped his arm tighter to stop him from going any further and he looked at her fingers curled around his arm. "I don't like to share." She said, her eyes began to glow and fangs protruded.

He seemed to respond to it, she could feel his body wanting to move toward the staircase, to seek out the human blood and satisfy his suddenly ravening apatite.

She did the only thing she could think of, she threw herself into his arms and covered his mouth with her own, kissing him passionately, invading his mouth with her tongue to fill his mind with things other than the warm, rich human blood waiting upstairs. To her dismay she didn't find it altogether unpleasant.

Calder reciprocated. A small voice in the back of her mind was disgusted, this was her sister's fiancé. This was her childhood peril. But he was tender and warm and completely her own as they crushed their bodies together.

When their mouths parted and they caught a breath, Calder hissed flashing his impressive long, sharp fangs and pushing her away.

"You shouldn't have come back." She said to him placing fingers to her swollen lips.

He made an unintelligible sound and stormed out for the second time that day. She went to the door to watch the jaguar depart and knew his eyes were on her reflection in the rear view mirror until he disappeared from sight.

She took a few moments to recover, the strange feelings wracking her body, caught between hatred, confusion, desire and Hunger. Hunger. Her eyes closed. "Shit." She ran back upstairs, taking two steps at a time.

"Are you there?" She asked softly as she stepped into her room but she found it was empty. She lifted her nostrils to the air and followed the trail to her mother's door where it stood ajar. Her mother had left the gramophone playing, a warbling record that was skipping over one phrase that Violet could not decipher.

She took slow, reluctant steps into the bedroom that stunk of sweat, old air and…blood. She saw her mother's figure hunched over her bed.

"Mother?"

The sound of wet sucking made her simultaneously repulsed and hungry. She began to tremble but still approaching slowly, dreading what she would see. She didn't have to see it to know that her mother was feeding on the human boy. Rose's lover.

Her heart was seized by fear.

In a frenzy Violet threw her mother off the boy and Coral landed hard against her wooden cabinet, momentarily unconcious. Violet sat beside the human, his throat had been made ribbons by Coral's teeth, not only had she pierced but she had chewed on his throat. Violet pressed her hand to his wound as if she could stop the flow of blood. There was too much blood. He'd lost so much already. I

Her mother was howling on the floor nearby.

"It's going to be okay." She said to the boy over and over but they both knew it wasn't okay. Even as she spoke her fangs appeared, her eyes turned molten gold and he was afraid of her. And then those eyes which were once full of life suddenly became vacant and she felt his soul slip his skin and dissolved into the ether.

Serenaded by her mother's sobs, Violet was crying silently, whether it was for the boy or for her near irresistible desire to bend down to the blood and lap at it.

She turned to her mother who was now laughing manically.

"What have you done?" She asked but the woman was incoherent, hysterically cackling.

It took every ounce of strength and self control for Violet to stand up, she picked up the human body, pressing the bloody mass of rib boned flesh to her chest and carry him into her room. She laid him on the bed, arranging his limbs and covering the worst of his wounds with a blanket.

She sat by the window, staring out at the expansive view of Parkland Estate. She looked to the canopy of trees, the twinkle of the brook lit silver by the moon's light. She stared in silence, taking up a vigil, waiting for her sister's return but before she settled into her session she picked up her cell phone dialled a number. "I fucked up."


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four:**

Violet's conscience weighed heavy on her heart. She had always been accused of being soft hearted but now the organ was ruptured and weeping red sympathy for the human stranger who was dead and scattered to the four winds.

She often felt a strange sensation when her thoughts turned to him and it had taken her a long time to identify what that was. I was shame. She was ashamed. It was this shame that kept her sealed in Parkland as if it were her tomb.

She lay her head down, eyes flickering closed for an instant as if she could sleep. All she saw were flashes, the sights and sounds of the last rattling breath of the human boy, the wet sucking of a mouth at his wounded throat. Sometimes she fantasized it was her mouth wrapped around his neck, slithers of human skin wet on her lips…

She opened her eyes to be greeted by her own reflection. Her lips parted to speak but an icy hand covered her mouth.

"What have you done with him?"

Rose. Violet's senses were overwhelmed with the presence of her sister and her eyes flooded with tears of both relief and anger. Rose was here.

"What have you done?" Rose's voice was low, angry. Her eyes a dangerous shade of silver.

Violet's thoughts raced to the kiss with Calder, shivering at the memory of their lips, their tongues…She shivered. Her body liquefying at the memory.

"What did you do? What did you do to him?"

What had she done? What had Calder told her? "It's not what you think. Calder-"

Rose was implacable, now screaming and crying looking completely wild and wretched. She threw herself around the room tearing at her hair that looked tangled and matted from months of not washing. "Where is he? What the fuck did you do you with him? Is he dead? Is he? Answer me."

Dead? Violet fought to grasp her sister, she had always been stronger than Rose but her manic mood made her strong and they toppled to the floor. They fought for a several minutes until Rose exhausted herself and Violet ended up straddling her sister, pinning her wrists to the ground.

"What are you talking about?" Violet asked, teeth clenched with the effort of holding her sister down.

"What did you do with Nicky?" Her sister spat, raging hot saliva decorated Violet's cheeks.

"Nicky?"

It seemed for a moment that all the life went out of Rose and Violet slowly climbed off of her sister and backed away to stare at her from a distance, ready to defend herself if Rose attacked.

"What's going on?" Violet asked softly, half of her barely convinced Rose was there at all and the other slowly filling with dread.

Rose sat up and put her head in her hands, holding her face as if she was in terrible pain. Violet's heart was racing, the awful thumping was consuming her body until she felt as if her whole body was throbbing.

"What happened, Rose?" It dawned on her, the terrible beating of her heart stopped. "Nicky was your lover...your human lover."

Rose sobbed out loud.

"Goddess." She whispered mind racing at the implications. "You said you'd give that up, Rose. You said it was a one time thing. You couldn't really be in love with a…human."

Rose sprang up and approached in a flurry of fury, she pushed Violet hard against the wall. "I will never forgive you, you murdering bitch."

She left the room as quietly as she had entered. Like a shadow she simply slipped into the dark and disappeared.

Violet was frightened for her sister. She let out a shaky breath and sagged against the wall until she sat on the ground.

Nicky. That was his name. That scrap of knowledge made the memory of his death more poignant, the shame deepened, the sinking feeling returned.

She held out her hands and watched them tremble, they shook with adrenaline. She decided she couldn't be there a moment longer so she picked up her boots and headed out of Parkland.

*

The Black Iris was packed. There was no band on the stage just a DJ hidden in the back and some slow soft doom music that suited Violet's mood. She ordered doubles at the bar and gulped then down intending to get very very drunk.

People steered clear from her sensing her black mood but they all looked, eyes rolled to count the number of glasses spread before her, the careless way she knocked back one drink after another. Eyes flicked once and twice to figure out which twin she was. Half way through the night someone slid into a stool next to her.

"Drink?" She offered Ash Redfern her half finished whisky to which he declined. "Did I ever thank you?"

"For what?" He asked, sitting with his back against the bar, his eyes set on the crowd.

"For getting rid of the body."

"Don't mention it."

She hid her smile with a swig of whisky.

They sat in companionable silence until Violet blurted, "Rose came back."

"I heard." It made her wonder who else had heard and she ordered another double with a flick of her fingers toward the barman.

"You shouldn't mix your drinks." He advised softly.

"That's precisely why I am."

"What's wrong, Violet?"

"I can't tell you because it's a secret." She spoke holding a finger to her lips.

"Secrets are dangerous things."

"Aren't they?" She said with false enthusiasm. "We all have our secrets." She cast an intense eye on him and felt him shift uncomfortably in his seat.

"Let me take you home."

"I don't want to go home."

"So what's next?"

She lifted her glass. "Another one of these."

"And after that, Violet?"

"Anything is possible, Ash."

Ash mutter 'shit' beneath his breath. Violet glanced behind her to see a dark haired vampire glaring suspiciously at them. She remembered his face in a vague sort of way, there were many soirees and many vampires of note but of course some would sake Quinn the Snake was unforgettable. After all he was Hunter Redfern's heir.

"Thought you were friends." She murmured to Ash who forced a lazy smile to his lips as Quinn approached.

"Just smile." Was his reply.

Quinn was shorter than Violet by a head, his face sharp angled under the dull club lights. Coldness seemed to seep from his pores and envelop their immediate vicinity, she suppressed a shiver as he greeted them both with an insincere smile and ordered another drink.

"What are you doing here?" Quinn asked Ash with a note in his voice that made it seem as if Ash's presence was inappropriate. "And you, princess, long time no see."

His eyes lingered on Violet and her lip curled in discuss as he allowed his thoughts to slip into her mind. "You're mistaking me for someone else."

"I couldn't mistake you for anyone." He gave a boorish wink and she grit her teeth. He was one of Rose's none to discreet flings. There were many of her ex-lovers dotted throughout the echelons of the Night and to think she had been reduced to bedding a human… To let it touch her, taste her, use her…

She grasped him by his shirt collar. "You don't fucking know me, got it?"

Ash's mouth hung wide open in shock, no one just grasped the Snake, no one who wanted to see the light of another day.

She released him, her hands still trembling and she strode out of the bar. When the night air hit her she felt nausea rise in a powerful wave. There had been too many nights walking out of the Black Iris, throwing up on the side walks, sleeping in strange People's crummy apartments.

She wrapped her jacket closer around herself, as if she could keep the inner chill at bay and began the long walk home. It was a two hour walk and she needed the headspace to think or forget, she couldn't decide and the world was still spinning.

She walked through Nestor Park. The streetlamps set a romantic mood against the gentle sway of the verdant landscape and a gang of leather wearing punks were lounging on a cluster of benches nearby. There were five of them she could see from the periphery of her vision but continued to walk nonetheless. She hadn't noticed until then the park was empty save for them.

One of the men whistled, others tried to lure her over with crude words but she was deaf to it all. She kept walking.

Someone ran to catch up with her and laid a callused hand on her shoulder. She turned around, too fast for the human eye, and snapped the wrist that hand was attached too. By the time the others caught up the young man was on the floor, sobbing over his limp hand.

"What the fuck?" He blubbered.

They began screaming all at once, too many voices filled her mind and her flesh sang with fury, the same manic feeling that had possessed her with she had grasped the Snake.

"We're going to fuck you up." A chorus of switchblades, the wink of cold steel in the night and there was some part of her wished it could be that easy.

A girl approached her with a hunting knife on one side and an older gruff man had a switchblade approaching her from the other. They danced forward together, she jumped out of the way in time as their knives connected with one another.

Blood sprayed half across her face as the man's blade plunged into the girl and girl sliced into the man.

The scent of blood brought her eyes to bright shiny saucers and needle sharp fangs to reveal themselves. One of the gang began screaming at the sight of her as a sudden breeze lifted her hair and she must have looked like an elemental goddess decorated in their friends' blood.

"What the hell are you?" One of them stammered.

The question speared her. She thought of her sister _I'll never forgive you, you murdering bitch_.

The humans didn't turn to run and her resolve wavered, the anger seeping from her as the feeling of shame consumed her from the inside out. Her face burnt with it, her impossibly pale skin turning a shade of pink.

She turned her back on the remaining punks and ran toward home.

*

Violet woke with her face pressed to the earth. Grains of soil clung to her cheek as she raised her face to the morning sky. She must have fallen and passed out on the way home. She remembered stopping to wretch as she entered the border of Parkland estate.

She was close enough to home she could see the towers pierce the night sky. She rolled onto her back staring at the dull sky, clouds gathered to shield her from the worst of the morning light. There was blood on her clothes.

A shadow fell on her face. She closed her eyes and a memory sprang to her, it was the lips of a young Calder Marwood-Thorn. It was light playing through a canopy of trees, the leaves of the willow tree brushing the earth and the thin trickle of water.

When she opened them again she was alone. Totally alone.


	6. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five:**

The servants had returned to Parkland and routine had been instilled. Rose had ensured with an imperial set to her mouth that everything had returned to a state of normalcy. Violet stayed locked in the guest room listening to the rise and fall of life beyond the door, she hadn't moved for days, had barely stirred from her bed. She hadn't even remove the blood and dirt stained clothes she had crawled into bed with.

There was a timid knock at the door. "Miss Violet. Miss? The lady has asked your company in the dining room. Miss?" It was Cora, Rose's preferred maid.

Violet sat up, feeling like a marionette.

"Miss Violet? Are you in there?"

Violet was at the door in an instant, wrenching it open to see Cora shivering where she stood. "What?"

"Lady Rose has asked for your company in the dining room." She said giving an awkward curtsey.

Violet stared at Cora as if she didn't comprehend the words coming out of her human mouth. Human. Life pumping beneath her flesh. Blood flowing, plumping her lips, her cheeks…Violet could scarcely catch a breath and slammed the door between them.

"Go away, Cora." She said through the door.

She listened to the maid's pattering footsteps disappear down the hall.

When she gathered the strength to stand again she moved gingerly down the stairs. It was as if she were following the scent of mortality, the rich, coppery stench of human blood. She walked into the dining room to find her mother and sister sitting at the dining table with plates of fruit set before them.

Rose's eyes were bright as they met Rose from across the room.

Coral looked between the two with a bemused expression. "Well it's about time we sat together for a meal."

Violet shivered, unable to look at her mother's face. She sat nonetheless, opposite from her twin, staring down at the fleshy pink grapefruit in front of her. The sight and scent of it made her sick.

"Why aren't you girls eating?" Coral asked.

Violet cringed, vivid visions of blood, screaming, sucking flooded her sense and she pushed the plate away violently, slamming her fists on the table and hanging her head miserably. Rose glanced at her sideways whilst she daintily picked at the fruit on her plate.

"That's better." Coral smiled.

They sat in silence but Violet could feel the waves of emotion rolling off of her sister, a jumble of confusion, sadness and hot and terrible anger.

A servant set some glasses beside them. Violet knocked hers off the table with a swift swoop of her wrist. Rose and Coral both jumped.

"Don't you dare leave this room, Violet Calla Bludworth." Coral hissed.

Violet turned her cold eyes on her mother. They stared at each other deep in the eye. It was their little secret that burned between them. Smouldering between them.

"You will sit down and finish you breakfast and wait for the Marwood-Thorn clan to arrive." Coral intoned in a no nonsense way that neither Violet nor Rose had heard since they were very young girls.

"You do not tell me what to do anymore." Violet replied and strode toward the exit, slamming the door behind her.

*

Violet sat with her back to the willow tree, a poison thing that could kill her but oddly it gave her great and silent comfort. The earth seemed to vibrate beneath her body, secrets of the soil communing with her sorrow.

There was a rustle in the brush and she was on her feet in an instant. Coral Bludworth stood beneath the shade of a nearby tree, her eyes sad and set on her daughter. "That tree." She said and took a step forward. "That tree was planted from someone very special to me-"

"I know." Violet dismissed her mother turning her back to the woman.

"My soul mate."

Violet froze, a unnatural chill possessed her and a long moment of silence passed as she couldn't believe her ears. She turned very slowly to face her mother whose eyes were sober, her mouth solemn, her very stance unlike the woman she had known. "What did you say?"

Coral laughed but it was a hollow sound that did not fit with the dulcet bird song and rustling leaves. "Yes, you heard me, child. My soul mate, my human soul mate." Her voice grew harsh, bitter even.

Violet was already shaking her head, no. "Fairytales. It's all just fairytales."

Coral's expression turned cold. "I thought so too."

Coral Bludworth had stopped ageing somewhere in her twenties, her green-blue eyes shone like large aqueous pools from her classic doll like face. Her skin was as pale and perfect as porcelain and there was no sign of the drunken revenant creature Violet had seen that night the human had died.

"His name was Michael Devries."

Violet leant against the willow trunk as her mother recounted her sad story. Coral Redfern had departed from her island sanctuary in the midst of the roaring twenties. A world rocked by the first Great War and woman had a voice like they had never known and Coral was coming into her very own voice in the Night.

A vampire debutant, but naïve as she ran from theatre to bar, to private parties of the famous, the dangerous and the darkest creatures in the Night. This was where she met Opal Dravek, a diva, a flapper a legend even in the human world. A woman whose irresistible voice had charmed both the new and old world.

From then on Coral smoke cigarettes on long elegant stems, wore ivory lace gloves and wore dark makeup to frame her large blue-green eyes.

It was at one of Opal's soirees that she had first seen him. A skinny trumpet player teasing out a solo on his horn. Everyone in the house was on their feet, and the human musician commanded every step with his instrument. Coral was instantly enchanted.

After the musicians packed their instruments away and left the makeshift stage, Coral had followed the trumpet player as he walked alone on the street. He walked as if listening to music, each step on a beat.

"He was beautiful." Coral said with a faint smile. "Strange thing to think, he was only human after all and humans are…"

"What about daddy?"

"Bryce." Coral's voice was hard. "It was a marriage of convenience as I'm sure you understand." Most marriages amongst the Lamia were. The main preoccupation of Lamia matches was to keep the wealth and bloodlines pure. It was said Hunter Redfern himself had set up the Bludworth Redfern match, and as the patriarch of the most ancient line of vampires no one could refuse. Bryce Bludworth owed fealty to Hunter just as Coral was bound by her blood as a Redfern.

"How did he die?"

Coral eyes filled with tears. "My heart was set on Michael from the instant I saw him, it was all sparks and thunder and magic. Your father found out of course, he caught me with him whilst we were on our honeymoon." Smile. "It was a beautiful night, we drank champagne flutes of blood and listening to the band play."

"How did he die, mother?"

"Your father fed me his blood in those glasses." She said almost dreamily. "I found his body later that night."

"Daddy killed him."

"It was your father who ordered his death. I suppose I should thank him really otherwise I'd be dead too."

Violet thought of all her memories of her mother, drunk, wallowing in a kind of madness that had always separated her from life beyond the boundaries of Parkland. She may be alive but it was no life at all. _Not without…_

"That human was yours, was he?" Coral asked blandly.

Violet shook her head indeterminably, instead she was filled with the backwash of Rose's grief and now her mother's sad tale.

Coral moved up to her with great speed and grasped her arm hard. "We'll not tell Rose anything about what was said here nor what happened that night, it'll be our little secret."

Violet nodded, unable to resist her mother, unable to articulate her thoughts or feelings. Secrets. Too many secrets.

They walked back together to the house. Violet's eyes cast down to the ground, unable to digest fully what her mother had said. There was a gathering of People inside, Violet could gear a great buzz of voices and was suddenly frightened. Had they heard of Rose's human lover? Had the Night come for her?

Coral walked ahead with a stiff back and head held high. Violet hung back, listening, her hands trembling with mad thoughts of capture and torture. Even though her skin crawled with the thought of human hands over her sister and her mother, she would rather they not suffer death for it.

It explained why her mother was quite mad, as the legends went, two souls intertwined to make a perfect whole as the gods had intended.

There was the tinkle of laughter through the walls and she found a place to sit on a small, dark staircase used by the servants for discreet getaways. The Marwood-Thorn clan were in the house, it was their voices she could hear. She half-recognised some of the intonation from her childhood years spent in and out of their company.

She sat and numbly listened to the pomp and ceremony of the vampires preparing a momentously advantageous marriage. The Marrow-Thorns would climb up the social scale and the Bludworth's would expand their family to include more sons and daughters, as if they could outbreed the Redfern clan.

She set her head against the wall and closed her eyes, but there were too many secrets ricocheting in her skull.

More laughter, it was giving her a headache. The house felt like a giant trap, the Marrow-Thorn like teeth in the jaws of a great lion who had its hungry eye fixed upon her family. She had to get out. Even as she thought it she was heading for the front door.

She found her sister standing in the doorway, arms folded across her chest. "Where are you going? What did she say to you out there?"

"Nowhere and nothing." Violet said her throat suddenly thick with tears.

Rose marched up to her, standing alarming close she whispered. "You're lying. You're lying about Nicky and you're lying about everything else."

"Leave me alone." Violet pushed her sister out of the way and wrenched open the front door. She came face to face with Calder.

Without a moment of hesitation Calder embraced her, folded neatly in his strong arms, smothered by the fabric of his jacket. She went instantly stiff in his arms. "Are you okay?" He asked.

She pushed him away, holding him at arms length. "Rose is inside."

His expression became smooth, unreadable but his eyes searched her face, his nostrils flared ever so slightly, trying to detect who she really was.

She stood back, folding arms in front of her chest. "They're all waiting for you."

"Yes we are." Rose stood behind them, having seen Calder and Violet together, the chirpy note in her voice was forced. "Cally, are you coming?"

Calder brushed past Violet to get into the house, his eyes were focused on Rose a smile came to his mouth but what Rose didn't see was his hand brushing Violet's ever so softly.s


	7. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six:**

The bartender didn't need to ask, having become accustomed to the sight of her seated at the end of the bar. He placed three shots in front of her.

"…I'll be moving on soon." Ash said.

"You've been moving around a lot lately." Violet commented without any real warmth or interest as she gulped down the bitter alcohol.

"Yeah." He agreed, his attention also divided.

He turned toward her, laying a hand on her bare shoulder and she was startled, staring up at him. "Are you going to tell me what's going on or should we play pretend?"

"I've been pretending for so long I don't know anything else." She whispered.

He withdrew his hand and looked out at the dark undulating crowd. "Is it something to do with that body?"

"It was just a human."

"You don't think like that, Violet." He said quickly.

"I should."

He glanced at her to gauge her expression.

"You should too."

"Troubles at home?" He said to change the subject.

"What could be more troublesome than a wedding?" She lifted a shot glass in salute and gulped it down.

"You miss your sister?"

She shook her head, no and gulped another shot.

"It must be difficult, having to let go of your twin." He mused.

"She let go a long time ago." Violet snapped slamming down her shot glass on the counter, earning a dower look from the bartender.

She turned toward Ash, her eyes bright with tears, her words slurred and diluted with grief. "I think I'm fucking up and I don't know what to do next."

"Here." He slid a small card across the bar. "Don't tell, just call when the time's right."

"More secrets?" She asked quickly wiping away her tears, pushing down the tumult of emotion that had her gut twisted in knots. Ash gave an endearing lop sided smile but didn't reply.

"Everybody loves Rose." She continued softly almost to no one in particular. "Who's going to love someone like me?" Ash pretended not to hear or just didn't bother to respond. It amounted to the same thing and so she stood.

"I have to go to the bathroom."

He watched her go, she threaded through the tightly packed crowd, pushing her way to girl's bathroom. She didn't notice as she was followed into the stall. She turned to find her reflection standing staring at her.

"Aren't you missing your engagement soirée?" Violet smoothed over her surprise with anger, it was simpler that way. "Where's your Cally? He here too?"

Rose didn't speak. Violet was more than a little drunk now, swaying on her feet.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"It's not enough that you killed him but you had to fuck my fiancé too?"

Rose's words hit Violet let an icy jet of water and she stumbled backward, catching herself to sit on the closed toilet lid.

"Just tell me." Rose whispered.

Violet's jaw trembled and she felt sick and mean. "I kept your sordid little secret, Rose, I did exactly what you told me to do."

"Tell me what happened to him."

"I did not fuck your fiancé." She said through clenched teeth, wanting to clarify it before all else.

Rose grabbed her sister by the throat, her eyes wild. "Tell me what happened to him."

"You're right." Violet hissed despite the tightening hold on her throat. "Your precious fucking Nicky is dead."

It was Rose's turn to collapse back against, her back hit the bathroom door, her head lowered, her shoulders shaking as she cried into her hands.

"You knew it." Violet said softly.

Rose shook her head, and Violet could almost taste her tears. "He was your soul mate, wasn't he?" She continued in a gentle tone.

Rose screamed. Not a mere yelp but a scream that emptied her lungs and made the rickety stall shake. Violet embraced Rose tight, smothering her tears. Holding onto her as if to ensure that she not crumble or fly off into a billion molecules.

It was true. Violet felt suddenly hollow with the knowledge. She had heard tales of the old magic rising, had heard the horrors of People being tied to humans, inexplicably one soul but in two people.

"It's going to be okay." Hadn't she said something similar to Nicky? She cradled her sister, seating her on her lap, Violet rocking her twin, stroking her hair, calming her to a dreamless sleep. "We'll go home, you'll call the engagement off and we'll figure this out. It's going to be okay."

*

Had she been asleep long? Violet couldn't tell. The night had turned to day but it seemed as if years had passed since last night with Rose shivering in her arms as she grieved for her dead soul mate. Rose was not with her now, she was alone and moved sluggishly, showering beneath the hottest setting as if she could scour the knowledge of what had happened from her skin.

She bounded downstairs wanting to find Rose and begin the process of figuring out what to do, and where to go. They could go together and everything would be all right. Instead the house was swarming with women of the Marwood-Thorn clan.

"What are you doing, girl? Where is your dress? Your sister is going to walk down the aisle in less than two hours and you're nowhere near ready." A corpulent vampire gently pushed her along the corridor.

"Wedding?" Violet was confused.

The woman smiled, her teeth too white and wholly menacing, she lead Violet into a side room where a gown was laid out for her. Violet sat in a complete daze, unable to think, she was primped and preened and clothed in a brilliant red dress. She was in deep shock and could not resist them.

"Well you're not as comely as the other one but you'll do." The corpulent woman said giving her shrewd look. Violet grit her teeth, she and Rose were identical.

The anger was good it helped her regain some measure of control. She went hunting for Rose, gathering bunches of red fabric to stride through the house. She tried Rose's phone but there was no answer and Violet left no message. She found her mother instead.

Coral Bludworth was serenely adjusting her hair.

"You planned this." Violet hissed.

"I thought it would be expedient if they were to marry sooner rather than later." Coral smiled to her reflection.

"She's not ready for this." Violet said grasping her mother's hands, trying to appeal to the vampire who only a few days ago had told her of her own tragedy and the loss of her human soul mate. It was as if the conversation had never taken place. Her mother's face was cold and smooth.

"This is the best thing for this family, dear."

"And when have you ever had this family's interests at heart?" Violet snapped.

Coral slapped her smartly about the cheeks.

Violet stared at her mother, her mother who had always been confined to a bed, to her room, always drunk or passed out from drinking. The woman who could not muster two sentences to her daughters for the years they had been alive.

"I wanted something better for her but she's used goods, unfortunately it's common knowledge and this is the best match she can hope to make now. In her conditions it's only right." Coral said.

"Her 'condition'?"

"Don't you dare ruin your sister's wedding you wretched little girl." She moved toward the door as if to leave but Violet grasped her arm and looked pleadingly into her mother's face.

"It's not right." She said firmly but softly trying to penetrate that one part of Coral who had sympathy for someone or something else but she did not find it.

"This isn't about what's right, we all have to make sacrifices for our family name and our children's prospects. You may understand this one day if we ever find you a suitor. Now get in the car and focus on being a bridesmaid." Coral strode out of the room.

Violet walked slowly almost as if she were defeated. Back in a haze of confusion and frustration she got into a car and the People buzzed around her like insects, each moved with strict purpose.

They pulled up to the Grand Hall. The same hall, Rose's engagement had been announced, there were already a horde of cars parked in front and guests were swarming. She saw Quinn emerge from a black limo, opening the door for Hunter Redfern himself who had his daughter Lily on his arm.

The door was being held open for her, the driver cleared his throat to gain her attention and she got out of the car mechanically.

She saw her father standing in the distance. She was in two minds as she stared at him, he hadn't aged passed 30 years. He was smoothing down the lapels of his jacket and saw his mouth lift in a smile as he spoke with someone nearby.

Violet made a decision and broke out into a run toward him.

"Violet." He embraced her with unrestrained affection. "What's wrong? Where's your mother?"

She stepped back tears gleaming in her eyes. "I don't know. Daddy you have to stop this wedding, you have to."

He gave a sharp look around them and seized her shoulders. He dragged her to a private spot at the side of the hall where no one would be sure to watch. His expression turned cruel and foreign and there was no trace of affection in him now. "What nonsense are you talking about? This wedding will proceed do you hear me?"

"But Daddy, it's not right. Rose doesn't need this-"

"It's what she's going to get. You don't think I know about you and your sisters gallivanting all about town. She will marry and become a respectable Night Person and so will you in due time. Now no more talk of this nonsense."

She felt betrayed but she had to expect It. She had known deep within herself that her father had resented them, Coral, Violet and Rose. It only made more sense now that she knew her mother's story.

He walked away and she was ushered by the corpulent Marrow-Thorn to enter the Grand Hall. She could still get to Rose, there was still time, she allowed herself a small measure of hope. She walked mechanically into the hall and was told where to stand. Things were moving quick and she knew the bride was confined in a little ante room waiting for the guests to settle in their seats.

She made an excuse to leave the remaining party and headed toward the ante room but as she approached Calder stood before her and she froze. Her blood turned cold.

He was in the middle of a conversation with someone or other when he spotted her too. His eyes swept up and down and she felt ridiculously self conscious in her bridesmaid dress screaming vermillion.

She stared at him think, poor bastard. He had no idea.

"You look beautiful." He conceded.

"I need to see my sister." She said a little too passionately and then through a fraudulent smile. "To speak to her one last time as a Bludworth."

He nodded but he looked shell-shocked. She touched his hand and squeezed lightly, sympathetically. "I'm sorry." And she truly was but not for any reason he could comprehend.

He didn't know what to say and walked away in a daze.

She took the moment to burst into the ante room and found Rose standing in her white gown. She caught her twins eye and then looked away, not able to stand her gaze. She was radiating guilt and regret.

"You look beautiful." Violet said sadly.

"Get out of here, Violet. It's too late."

"It's not." Violet rushed forward. "Please, you can't go through with this sham."

"It's gone too far. The Redfern clan are here, officials from the highest echelons of the Council, to back out now would be a death warrant."

"Rose."

"You can't conceive of the implications of this marriage."

"What about the implications for you?"

A tear rolled down Rose's cheek. "There's nothing left for me now." She whispered.

Violet felt awkward and stupid. She felt hopeless as if there was nothing she could do. "Don't go through with it." She said but it sounded pathetic even to her own ears.

Their mother burst into the room moments later, Coral glared at Violet before busying herself arranging the pleats at the front of Rose's gown. She had been frightened Violet could change Rose's mind.

"Are you ready, darling?"

Rose nodded.

Violet heard the distant sound of the wedding march. It mirrored the human ceremony, something new among vampires: to conduct a white wedding, except the priest was a witch and the union was witness by ancient gods rather than the one God.

"Pick up her train and march like a good little girl." Coral said chirpily but her grip of Violet's arm was like a vice.

She picked up the train, fingering the lacy fabric.

Her mother gasped dramatically and spun round. "Wait, her orchid. Violet, sweetheart go back and fetch it, we'll wait for you just outside."

Violet did as she was told and went to fetch the orchid. She pottered around the room. A shadow fell across her eyes and she saw her mother's eyes narrowed into slits. She slammed the door shut and Violet heard the click of the lock.

"No." She ran to the door and pounded on it but it hurt, the doors were wood. Her skin broke and blood flowed. She must have been pounding on the door for hours before she sunk to her knees and closed her eyes in defeat.

She must have fallen asleep at some point because darkness enveloped her and then a slim crack of light cut a path through the doorway. It was open. Mistrustful she approached it slowly after taking minutes to pick herself up.

She emerged and the place was deserted. She saw the wedding debris before her and she knew she had missed it all, just as her mother wanted.

It was done.


End file.
